The Repossession by Sam Hawksmoor Page B

into the log he was holding and he was submerged again. He tried to swim back up, but his way was blocked by another log. He tried going another way and that too was blocked and he was rapidly running out of air. He urgently struggled to get to the surface again, his lungs bursting.
    Suddenly the water flowed sideways and he found himself pulled along with it. He surfaced, took in a huge gulp of air. He was moving rapidly again with nothing to hold on to. The rain obscured his vision but he knew
    instinctively he had been diverted – not to the regular channel; this had to be a breach in the riverbank. As the river was squeezed through it, the water flow speeded up. A narrow canyon would take some of the runoff and then a couple of kilometres after it lay orchards and fields. If he wasn’t knocked out cold by a dead tree, he’d be OK. But what about Genie? Where would she wash up? Was she even still alive?
    She had no idea how long they had been floating but Genie and the pig were both choking. She and the pig had been bowled along for what seemed like forever, until quite unexpectedly the water had finally run out of puff and spread out as it had found open fields to flood. Now the pig was struggling to stand on the mud, whilst Genie was on her knees, throwing up river water and God knows what else she had swallowed. The pig had noticed the change first and violently twisted out of her arms. It stood rather uncertainly near her, resentful and angry. There was a light from a wrecked truck’s headlights pointing at the trees on the slope beside them and she could see that the pig was one big animal, like her, covered in sludge.
    She couldn’t believe that she had saved such a huge creature. She had no idea where she was, but it wasn’t near the river. Even the river probably wasn’t near the
    river either from the sound of water rushing by below her.
    She shivered and coughed, glad she was alive. But Ri?
    What had happened to him? She shouted his name but realized it was pointless.
    The pig wandered off, steering well clear of the water.
    Genie thought she had better do the same, find somewhere dry on higher ground. She stood up and shouted Rian’s name for luck once more, but of course, he wasn’t there.
    Her voice came out all strained and hoarse. She turned and followed the pig up the hill. It seemed to instinctively know where to go.
    Out of the water, gasping for breath, Rian saw a truck set off ahead, its lights sweeping across the water before turning and heading up a track. He shouted and was running as fast as he could, but the ground was muddy and he saw it pull away and dip out of sight over a ridge.
    He stopped to catch his breath, turned as he saw a burning car about two hundred metres below him. Thunder rattled overhead and the rain grew more intense. He had to find Genie and shelter. She would be somewhere out there, dead or alive. He tried to block out visions of her body floating along the wild river. He uttered a short prayer for her and grimly smiled to himself; it was the first prayer he’d ever said and ever meant. God save Genie – please .
    But that awful vision of her floating dead body stuck in his mind and wouldn’t leave.
    She had walked for hours up the hill and then through the forest, following an old narrow track. Genie had lost the pig or the pig had lost her, but at least she had found an old barn. It never stopped raining and the thunder was still audible in the distance. The barn was dry at least and there were straw bales stacked on one side. She would be safe here. Rain drummed on the tin roof. There was a strong smell of apples and that was comforting in some way. Many farmers grew apples around Spurlake.
    Everyone said Spurlake apples were the best in BC.
    Thinking of this, she slept.
    She woke suddenly aware that her chest hurt real bad and her eyes seemed swollen. Slowly she realized why she’d woken, the rain had abruptly stopped. She stirred.
    She was snug under the straw